Game Day - Nanooks Take On the Air Force Falcons

Game Day

Kendall Hockey Classic, Round 1, Game 1

Alaska Nanooks vs Air Force Falcons

5:07PM AKST - Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, Alaska

Live Stats: GoSeawolves.com | Live Audio: KCBF 820 Sports | 820 AM Fairbanks

Live Internet Video ($9): AmericaOne | Live TV KFXF Fox 7 Fairbanks

Twitter: @NanookHockey

Line Charts:  Alaska | Air Force

New beginning, new season, new team, same goals... Win a championship. Looking forward to putting on the Nanook jersey tonight. #gonooks
— Jared Larson (@JLARSON23) October 11, 2013

Tonight, Jared Larson said it best as the Nanooks begin their quest for a championship. I've said it before, I'll say it again: This team is more focused and motivated team from a year ago. And seven new Nanooks will don the jersey for the first official game of the season. The Linnell-Erickson-Basara line that was so impressive in the exhibition game is back together again tonight.

Not sure what about these three that clicked so well last week, but I want to see more of it this weekend. You probably can't tell, but I'm excited... And the Morley brothers will team up with newcomer Jared Larson who compliments those two really well with his size. That's half of the lines for tonight right there. As expected, John Keeney reassumes his role as the starting goaltender, and Davis Jones listed as the primary backup behind him.

Should be a good game tonight. For those of you following online, the line charts for both Alaska and Air Force are linked above for your analyzing pleasure.

Go 'Nooks!

Game On! Nanooks Regular Season Opens in Anchorage's Hockey Classic

It's finally here... The return of college hockey, and the Alaska Nanooks as the "greatest game on the planet" nears its first puck drop of the collegiate season. Three seniors, seven juniors, nine sophomores, and eight freshmen seek their stamp on Alaska Nanooks history in the inaugural season as a member of the WCHA.

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For those of you that don't follow me on Twitter, the government shutdown has left the Air Force Academy (all of the service academies, really) without an operating budget. Meaning all travel had been officially cancelled. Just last week, the Air Force/Navy football game in Washington D.C.--a nationally televised rivalry--was on the brink of cancellation until United Airlines stepped in and donated a jet to get the Falcons to D.C.

Obviously football is not their only sport, and their hockey team found themselves in a similar situation until our friends at UAA stepped in to help split the cost with the Air Force Academy Athletics Corporation, a non-profit that operates financially independent of the Academy to the tune of about $11,000.

So with Air Force officially in town, we are all systems go for tomorrow. The Blog packs up and ships down south to cover the tournament in the morning. Promptly after the routine Buffalo Wild Wings trip, I'll head to the rink for a pre-game post as we get set to face Air Force in a rematch from last season's 3-3 tie at the same tournament.

I'm not really sure why the Nanooks are playing Air Force first instead of Quinnipiac on Friday evening. I guess the folks down south think it gives them a fighting chance thinking they have an edge playing them first. Typically you would schedule them on a Saturday to statistically draw more fans. But since that's been enough of an issue lately to close over 50% of the seating in the arena due to attendance, I'm not really sure where their minds are.

But that said, I'm looking forward to this tournament. As I alluded to with the exhibition win, there is just something about this year's Nanooks that has me excited for these first couple of weeks and what they have in store for us. Three of the first four games this season are against top 20 teams according to USCHO, and will be a great way to get this season rolling.

And don't count Air Force out. They are a gritty team. They work hard, and they press hard defensively. They don't give any space, and if the Nanooks are going to make plays on this team, they need to create those chances in transition game and make those stretch passes cleanly. The 'Nooks should be the better team here, but by no means should Air Force be overlooked. That's not going to happen tomorrow. I think our guys' heads are in a better place, and I think they have the confidence to dictate the flow of the game.

After Air Force comes Quinnipiac on Saturday night. Officially the 2nd best team in college hockey last season, losing to Yale 4-0 in the National Championship. Ironically just three weeks after the Bobcats took out Yale 3-0 in the ECAC championship, and their two meetings in the regular season. But after losing 12 seniors (yes, that was not a typo) from last season, Quinnipiac has a lot of doubters in the college hockey media world. But 12 guys does not make a full roster, and there is a lot of talent still there. Matthew Peca and Kellen Jones to name the two top returning scorers, both NHL draft picks, along with Connor Jones contributed a combined 25% of the total offensive production for the Bobcats last season.

Quinnipiac finished last season 30-8-5, and put together one of the greatest unbeaten streaks in history, a run of 21 straight games before St. Lawrence and goaltender Matt Weninger put together a defensive shell in the 3rd period that Steven Stamkos couldn't crack. I watched a replay of that game on FCS last season, and was one of the better hockey games I've seen in a while.

The Nanooks have their first tests of the regular season this weekend, and its going to be some fun hockey to watch. Fox 7 is airing the Air Force game live tomorrow at 5PM and replayed at 10PM. Then the Quinnipiac game will be tape delayed at 10PM due to college football obligations. The games will also be streamed online I'm told, but I believe details are still being worked out on that front. More to come on that later.

Nanooks Maul UBC 8-1 in Exhibition Opener

After the Nanooks got up 2 goals in the first two minutes, I have to give credit to UBC, they shored up the D and protected their net much better, taking away the shooting lanes. UBC's breakout also was very patient, and efficient. 

But, the Nanooks still dominated the first period of impressively fast hockey. Playing Regina last year, it was quite uneven. However, UBC plays a similar style and pace of hockey and they made the 'Nooks work for it. 

On Campbell's goal, Brandon Morley made a nice read to pick off an outlet pass to keep the Nanooks in the offensive zone. Getting it to Campbell,

Trevor rushed in and created an angle on the goaltender and sniped one in. 

Quite honestly, I didn't actually look up to see Basara's goal until the puck had already hit the net. It was described to me as a shot high blocker off a nice pass from Linnell across the crease. It's preseason for me too...

The Nanooks played a pretty clean game, all said and done. I was a little disappointed to see some defensive breakdowns late in the game, leaving Davis Jones alone with an undefended forward in his crease. 

Jones did see the majority of the shots in the game as UBC had 15 in the final period. I felt like UBC was a bit of a different team late in the game. Not so much that the 'Nooks slowed down, but that UBC started pouring it on more. Definitely started to get a bit chippy there towards the end as well. 

As far as the 'Nooks go, get your popcorn ready for the Morley brothers show. The two of them together spell danger for all who oppose them. Brandon, like his brother. Is so quick and shifty, he can change directions on a dime. Watching him on the PK units tonight was a lot of fun. Jared Larson complements them well with a bigger body, not that either of those two are lacking in the physical department either. 

Also, the rookie line of Linnell, Erickson, and Basara is going to be one to watch. I don't know if this line (or any lines really) will stick, but Erickson and Basara had some good chemistry going on too. My favorite play of the night was Erickson breaking out of the box and getting a breakaway goal on a beautiful setup by Trevor Campbell. It's been a while since I've seen a play like that, executed that well. 

Other than that, not much can really be inferred at this point. Let's hope the guys keep their spirits up and get some good work in this week, because the games count starting Friday. I'm hoping this whole shutdown thing doesn't impact Air Force getting up here. I got my tickets all ready to go, I'm shipping down Friday morning. 

There's just something about this team... I can't put my finger on it yet, but something special is going to happen this year...

Game Day: The Nanooks Host the UBC Thunderbirds in Carlson Center Opener

Game Day

Exhibition

Alaska Nanooks vs UBC Thunderbirds

5:37PM AKST - Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

Live Stats: AlaskaNanooks.com | Live Audio: KCBF 820 Sports

Live Internet Video ($8): AmericaOne | Radio: 820 AM Fairbanks

Twitter: @NanookHockey

Tonight, the UBC Thunderbirds venture to Fairbanks to take on the Nanooks. Last night, the Thunderbirds faced off against our friends down south as ACC required two power goals to defeat UBC 2-1, including a goal on a 5 minute major penalty. 621 Anchorage fans packed the new 750-seat Wells Fargo Center to witness the victory.

Penalties were rampant last night, with 14 total being called. Anchorage took 9 for 18, while UBC had 5 for 21 including the 5 minute major accompanied by the misconduct. Officials are trying to make the game as clean as possible, I get that. But the game is an exhibition, and the officials will likely be more strict to set the tone for the regular season. So be prepared if some of the calls are a little...off. But after finishing last season 4th in the nation with an 89.9 percent penalty kill, practice makes perfect.

It should also be noted that UBC scored the only even strength goal of the night last night, either indicating that UBC's defense and goaltender are really good. Or Anchorage's offense/defense, not so good. Shots for the evening were 28-25, with a slight edge for ACC.

On the Thunderbirds, they finished with their best season in Canada West last year under head coach Milan Dragicevic before falling to the Calgary Dinos in the quarterfinals. Finishing 18-14-3 last season, they gave Denver and Colorado College a run for their money in their respective exhibitions last year. then-#8 Denver tied 2-2 last season before Colorado College (20th at the time) edged a 3-1 win over UBC in Colorado Springs. Air Force was not so lucky.

The moral of the story is, UBC is clearly competitive. My fun jabs at UAA aside, UBC is clearly a skilled hockey team with some key players, some with connections to guys on the Nanooks' roster but I'll get to that in a bit. During the offseason UBC added Nick Buonassisi to their roster, citing good offensive speed with an aggressive forecheck. Last night, that paid off as his linemate Matt Wray made a play to keep the play alive in the offensive zone on Jordan Kwas then Nick made a pass (admittedly aided by a favorable bounce) to Greg Fraser for the goal. Doyle Woody--who's journalistic opinions I actually value--also praised UBC goalie Matt Hewitt's 26 stops in the loss.

Captains

If you didn't see my tweets earlier this week, head coach Dallas Ferguson has named the captains for this season tapping Colton Beck to lead the team as the 2013-2014 Captain. Fellow seniors Cody Kunyk, and Michael Quinn will don the 'A', as well sophomore defenseman Colton Parayko.



Connections

Just like seasons past, you can't play a Canadian team without a few connections. Just for what I could easily find from their roster,

• UBC forward Jessi Hilton played two seasons with Kunyk for the Sherwood Park Crusaders in the AJHL.
• Marcus Toye and Justin Tateson played two seasons together on Drumheller Dragons in the AJHL.
• Nanooks defenceman Nolan Kaiser played with UBC forwards Matt Wray and Cole Wilson for Camrose in the AJHL.